George F. Kennan: An American Life, By John Lewis Gaddis, Penguin Press, 784 pp., $39.95 George Kennan was the J. Alfred Prufrock of American diplomacy—acutely observant, toxically self-absorbed, and to borrow T. S. Eliot’s words, “full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; / At times, indeed, almost ridiculous— / Almost, at times, the Read more
Continue ReadingExperiment Eleven: Dark Secrets Behind the Discovery of a Wonder Drug; By PETER PRINGLE Reviewed by Marc Parrish According to the famous German physicist Arnold Berliner, scientists are “a cross between a mimosa and a porcupine”: one part bubbly, intoxicating sweetness and one part prickly brawler. Along with their commitment to the intellectual pursuit of Read more
Continue ReadingKnowing Too Much: Why the American Jewish Romance With Israel is Coming to an End. By Norman Finkelstein. OR Books; 472 pages; $18 and £12. IT HAS become increasingly common for prominent liberal Jewish Americans to voice anguished disquiet over Israel’s behaviour. The most visible signs of this trend are books, such as Read more
Continue Readingby Ahmed E. Souaiaia* In a couple of days, Morsi will be declared the winner of the presidential contest. Although we just witnessed events that reminded us that nothing is certain in post-revolution Egypt, having a president 15 months after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak will bring some political stability and predictability for the country. Read more
Continue Readingby Ahmed E. Souaiaia* Before his ouster, Hosni Mubarak fired a desperate, last shot. He handed over all his authorities to the military, from whose ranks he rose to power. He reasoned that if he cannot keep power, he should preserve influence. Since then, the military has walked a tight line between appeasing the powerful Read more
Continue ReadingThe politics of journalism by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* Photo used by BBC, the photo was later taken down. Following a horrific massacre that took place in Houla, Australia, Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Turkey, the Netherlands, and the United States decided to expel diplomats from Syria. The action was swift despite the Read more
Continue ReadingUntil before Cablegate, when in February 2010 WikiLeaks began releasing classified U.S. cables, Saudi Arabia was known for its quiet diplomacy. Then its secret dealings were revealed and exposed its actual dealings. Regionally, released documents exposed Saudi Arabia as an enthusiastic proponent of military intervention in Iran. Privately, the Saudi rulers told U.S. officials that Read more
Continue ReadingOr can Mitt Romney offer them a viable alternative? But an alternative to what and why? As it is generally the case, extraordinary circumstances must be present for an incumbent president to lose re-elections. The last time this happened, President Bush (41st) was fired because of the economy. Bill Clinton rode the spiffy slogan, “It Read more
Continue ReadingAhmet Davutoğlu On Thursday, the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu responded to opposition parties’ members of parliament who accused the government of war mongering on Syria. “A new Middle East is emerging and we will continue to lead this. Turkey will pioneer this order of peace. … The Turkish people of 74 million are with the Syrian Read more
Continue ReadingAs soon as the last American fighting solder left Iraq, the government of Nouri al-Maliki hinted that it will work for reconfiguring the government from one that is coalition based to one that is majority based. He also encouraged some lawmakers affiliated with al-Iraqiyya to break away, some did. In the meantime, a court issued Read more
Continue Reading